Close Behind
by CaptainDan52
Summary: She began to realize that, in a way, she was a lot like him.
1. Chapter 1

He met her at Los Soledad around sunset.

She had insisted to him that they would merely be catching up, and that nothing more would come of it.

Yes, Ben had a crush on Kai (and probably still did).

And she did like him, in a way.

However, her feelings for him were never quite the same as his feelings for her. But it was getting harder to deny anything romantic between her and Ben. For one thing, Ben had recently split with Julie, so he was "on the market." Not to mention, when Kevin and Gwen told everyone that they weren't dating, nobody was convinced. So, Ben and Kai chose to walk around Los Soledad because they both agreed it was the least romantic place imaginable.

"You still dance?" Ben broke the ice.

"On occasion," she replied, "but nothing ceremonial."

"Why not?"

"I got older. At 10, I was a quiet kid; the adults took that as a sign of compliance, so they expected me to observe and maintain my heritage. It was almost like Sunday school, which is why I was so well-versed in Navajo beliefs. But then I-

"Started to question them?" he attempted to finish her thought.

"No, I just didn't need to abide by them once I started working as a Plumber. When I turned 13, my grandfather agreed to let me join him on missions. Most of the time, I was just there in the background. But I didn't want that; I wanted to help on a mission, maybe even do one on my own. That's part of the reason why I had you serve as backup in London. I could easily have rescued my grandfather on my own; but since the Forever Knights were involved, and you had fought them before, it made sense to ask you for help."

"Yeah, about your grandfather. Did he tell you to take judo classes or what?"

"Kind of. I took judo classes mainly because he wouldn't let me use weapons. Not because he didn't trust me with them; he just felt that I didn't really need them. In hindsight, it made sense because, over time, I had gotten so good at it, I didn't even need weapons.

"Wow. You know, Gwen's been doing a lot of martial arts; maybe you guys could have a match sometime."

"Perhaps. How is she, anyway? I heard she got a new place."

"Yeah, it's near her college campus; she moved in with her boyfriend."

"You mean, Kevin?"

"Right," nodded Ben.

When the suspicions were confirmed, and Kevin and Gwen made it clear that they were, in fact, dating, everyone in the Plumbers had already figured that out. All the magisters, security guards, ambassadors, pilots, and new recruits had known by then. Even the Null Void prisoners, many of whom knew Kevin personally from his time there, knew about it. Kevin and Gwen were like a Plumbers version of a celebrity couple. So it shouldn't have been a surprise to Ben that she also knew.

Sticking with the issue of couples, one of the two tusks adorning the figurative elephant in the room was Ben's recent split with Julie. Kai thought about bringing it up; but aside from making his bad situation worse, she worried that the question, coming from her, would sound less like she was genuinely concerned and more like, "So, you're single now? Wanna hook up later?" Trying her best to avoid that, she asked Ben if he had any regrets about his relationship with Julie.

He sighed, "My two biggest regrets: letting my work with the Plumbers take away from the time I could've spent with Julie, and letting the press get to my head."

"What do you mean?" she asked, referring to the latter explanation. "The good press or the bad press?"

"Both."

As he explained, the good press obviously gave him a bit of an ego boost. The bad press, however, tried to make him out into something worse than anything he ever was or could be. It made Ben think, "How could they say that about me? I saved the universe!"

Evidently, Ben liked the "saved the universe" line a lot. Otherwise, he wouldn't have used it on her in London.

But the press had agitated a kind of arrogance in Ben, and it reflected in his relationship with Julie, most infamously in the "clone" incident.

"It was stupid of me," assured Ben, "and Julie deserves better than that."

He walked a few steps in front of her before turning around and looking her right in the eye.

"I don't know if you felt the same way after telling me I wasn't your 'type', but you're probably lucky that you didn't end up with me."

Just then, she started to regret asking the question altogether. This wasn't the "leap first, look second" side of Ben who used "universal savior" for bragging rights; this was a side of Ben that meant business. However, the "type" incident had, in fact, bothered her for a long time, so she tried to set the record straight.

"You wanna know why I really said you weren't my type?" she countered. "It wasn't your alien, Blitzwolfer, or whatever. It was you, Ben. You don't think it was so blatantly obvious that you were trying too hard to impress me? I mean, yes, you saved my life. But be honest: did you save my life only because you were as genuinely concerned about my safety as, say, Julie's?"

Ben stood silently for a moment, like he was waiting for the echo of her voice to die out before releasing his own. Not only did she then start to regret her question, but she started to regret the whole encounter. She took a step away from him in case she had to run away. Instead, he leaned against one of the buildings, looking deep in thought.

"Maybe I just wanted to help people," Ben answered. "Maybe I'm naive enough to think I can save the world. I can't save everybody, or waste my time wondering whether you'd save me if you had alien powers and I was holding on to a giant clock for dear life."

He paused heavily, like he had made room for the sound of her footsteps as she softly approached him. She began to realize that, in a way, she was a lot like him. They both held a heavy empathy for others, and shared an ambitious, comic-book-hero-like aspiration to help people, or possibly even the whole world. This was yet another side of him that greatly surprised her.

Ben looked too frustrated to continue his thought, or else he was distracted by the orange-and-pink-tinted sunset. It was a warm feeling, though it seemed odd that the feeling was only in Ben's hand.

The warmth, it turns out, came from Kai's hand, which had quietly become intertwined with his.

"I'd save you."

She looked at Ben with her vitreous, mirror-like brown eyes that glistened in the warm color of the sunlight. An optimistic affection overwhelmed him and he could now put aside his uncertainties for the sake of someone who genuinely cared for him.

"You mean it?" he inquired.

"I do."

And they embraced.

Although Ben and Kai had both initially agreed that "nothing more would come" of them catching up, something more did come out of it.

But it probably wasn't what either of them had expected.


	2. Chapter 2

Dusk was giving way to night, and a few stars flickered on like turn signals. Street lamps hovered over the sidewalks like spotlights, under which rolled a small pebble, followed by the two teenagers.

"In high school," Kai further kicked the pebble, "I had a couple of platonic male friends, and we got along really well. But most of the other guys were hitting on me, and I turned them all down. So they started the rumor that I was a hooker, even though I was still a virgin when I graduated."

"Huh," Ben remarked as she kicked the pebble over to him. "Judo must've been really handy then."

"Yeah."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"I'm just saying, I can relate. Plus, compared to the guys from high school, you were much more polite when you hit on me."

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically, "I guess."

"I mean it," she insisted. "Besides, as far as I know, you have fangirls and they don't."

"It's not what you think. They're like the press; they never leave me alone."

"Didn't you always want attention for your powers?"

"I guess this would be a case of 'be careful what you wish for'."

Ben kicked the pebble off the curb, absentmindedly walking around the street lamp to go after it.

"Maybe," he pondered, "I could get out of the spotlight, put Plumbers business aside, and just try to live normally."

"You're not legally old enough to drink alcohol, and you already want to settle down?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"Touché."

Nothing else was said for another half mile. Ben's pebble ambled along the asphalt as he tried to loosen the small patch of moss off it. Kai would periodically glance at the intricate tapestry of the night sky, which was made all the more dazzling by the full moon.

"Be careful," she teased. "You might turn into Blitzwolfer again."

"Cut it out," he countered, "or I will."

Ben reinforced his mock threat by kicking the pebble more forcefully this time. It went flying off the pavement until it landed in the grass surrounding a small pond. The two of them took off their shoes and quietly sat down beside the pond, submerging their feet in it. The moon's light and its reflection on the pond water both glistened against Kai, as if she were a diamond. And she was a gem, in Ben's eyes. She had a unique ability to, figuratively speaking, put Ben in his place. It was something she shared with two other people: Gwen (who used it on both Ben and, more profoundly, Kevin) and Julie.

"You think there might really be something between us?" he asked.

Kai pondered the question for a moment.

"Do you want there to be something between us?"

"That's not the question. Is there something between us, whether or not we want there to be?"

"I don't know," she tossed the pebble along the water's surface. "If there is, we ought to let it happen. If not, we can't force it to happen."

"You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"At least I didn't make it look so obvious."

Kai wasn't genuinely withholding judgment; but in her defense, Ben was never that good at subtlety himself. Though, that didn't stop him from splashing her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Don't tell me you didn't see that coming," he laughed.

Predictably, she splashed back. But while Ben was wiping the water away from his eyes, she pushed him completely underwater.

"Alright," he remarked, having come up for breath. "I DEFINITELY didn't see that coming."

"How about this?"

Kai hugged his neck from behind him. Apparently, she came in while he was still underwater. They both laughed as he playfully tried to get her off him, which she wouldn't do so easily. But they eventually stopped; their hands held each other's shoulders as their eyes met. She smiled at him with her glistening brown eyes, color-coordinated with her drenched hair and skin. A sudden feeling overwhelmed Ben, but it was different from the feeling of his 10-year-old self, watching Kai dance. No, it was a feeling that made something dance within him.

"You're beautiful," he heard himself say.

She felt his thumb softly trace the wet strand of hair that fell down to the corner of her mouth.

She nudged the hair aside, "Kiss me."

"Huh?"

"Kiss me alrea-"

Ben was quick to oblige, even before Kai could finish her demand. Her skin was warm to him, as if she carried the heat of the Southwest with her. Not caring that he tried to get her off him just a few minutes ago, he clung to her as tightly as he could, like a lifeline. One hand traced mazes along her upper arm, while the other hand held the hair on the back of her head. She was more than enough to quite literally make Ben melt in her embrace. Taking his cue to lead their moondance, Kai tugged on his shirt and leaned him against the edge of the pond. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he instinctively moved both his hands to hold her up by the backs of her thighs. Her hair, having been freed from Ben's amorous grip, fell down like a curtain on either side of Ben's face, blocking his peripheral vision. The kiss gradually lost its grip, and their lips stubbornly lingered against each other until Kai started laughing.

"What?" asked Ben.

"You're a really good kisser."

"So are you," he smiled.

They waded quietly and watched the stars until they were both tired enough to want to go home. Ben got out first, and then held Kai's hand as she climbed out.

With one hand still holding on to Ben, she picked up her shoes with her free hand; he did the same with his shoes.

"You want your hand back?" he teased.

"No," she moved in closer next to him. "You can have it for now."

He smiled lovingly at her, in a mirror image of her expression. Without another word, they were on their way home, drying off as they walked under the street lamps.


	3. Chapter 3

Kai woke up the next morning like she was rising from the grave, and, she figured, so did Ben.

Neither of them had ever been much of a morning person, especially when it's the morning after they stayed up late making out in a pond.

The time was 6:02 am, according to the digital clock on the dresser.

Kai slept in the basement-level guest bedroom of Ben's house; she was greeted at the foot of the bed by her neatly folded clothing, which Sandra had put in the dryer while Kai was sleeping.

It then occurred to her that each encounter she had with Ben - the flooded-out reservation, the Excalibur chamber, and the pond from the previous night - involved water, which made her chuckle as she walked into the adjacent bathroom to shower.

Meanwhile, Ben was upstairs, brushing his teeth.

He usually skipped brushing his teeth, but he needed any excuse he could to avoid picturing Kai taking a shower.

Plus, he had to clean the pond water out of his teeth, which made him feel even dirtier than he would openly admit.

The problem wasn't that Ben might mentally pictures girls taking a shower in his house; his dad had already given him "the talk."

The problem was that Ben might mentally picture Kai taking a shower in his house, and this was for many reasons.

As if by magic, the doorbell distracted him from any potential perversion.

"I'll get it," Ben shouted to someone.

He washed his toothbrush and then promptly hurried to answer the front door.

He didn't care who it was, as long as they could get him to think about something else.

The door opened, and the man behind it greeted, "Hey, Tennyson."

Ben groaned, "Hey, Kevin."

So much for helping him to not think about Kai; all Kevin's gonna do is tease Ben about her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ben.

"I can't drop by and check in on a fellow Plumber?" Kevin replied defensively.

"Not unless you have some ulterior motive."

"As a matter of fact," he confessed, "I do. A little birdie told me to ask you where the hell you went last night."

Even the Vreedle Brothers could tell that Gwen was the "little birdie" in question.

Ben played along, "Did this little birdie need me for anything?"

"Not really. Just some help fighting Trumbipulor."

"Oh, sorry about that. Did you get him?"

"We did. But still, where were you last night?"

"I...uh, went swimming with a friend."

"I can tell," Kevin raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly.

His gesture was directed towards the girl standing behind Ben; Kai was fully-clothed (thank God) but her hair was still wet from the shower.

"Hey, Kevin," she greeted, ignoring Ben as he mentally cursed her poorly-timed presence. "You needed something?"

"No, I was leaving anyway."

Kevin might've stayed to further torment Ben, but he already had his fun tormenting Ben over Julie.

He made certain that the door would close behind him on his way out.

On the door's other side was the sound of silence, which bordered on awkward for a few moments before she finally decided to break through.

"You know, pretending not to be in a relationship didn't work out for him either."

Kai used Kevin and Gwen's relationship as a frame of reference for whatever relationship she might have with Ben.

It probably wasn't the most reliable frame of reference, but surprisingly, it was still more stable than Ben's relationship with Julie.

"I'm not trying to pretend," he insisted. "I'm just cautious."

"I beg to differ," she countered, "You're claiming not to pretend about a relationship that you're pretending doesn't exist. If you oughta be cautious about anything, here's a good place to start: why would it bother you so much if someone thought you wanted a relationship when you didn't?"

He tried to respond, but he couldn't think of a good enough answer.

Kai did have a point, he admitted to himself.

Ben pondered over the question for 2 minutes before he could address Kai's growing impatience.

"You're right," he relented. "I'm sorry."

"That's it?" she seemed taken aback. "No half-assed attempt at explaining yourself?"

"No. That's your thing, not mine."

Ben was expecting Kai to mentally kick herself, or start acting apologetic.

"Good boy," she teasingly rubbed his hair.

To his surprise, Kai turned the tables back on him.

He couldn't help but laugh about it.

For a moment, Ben confidently presumed that he was one step ahead of Kai.

But she had figured out how to keep him in his place.

He wasn't even close behind...


End file.
